Crashlytics in Android Kotlin - Mini App: Build & Ship

Build: Crashlytics Demo Screen

This screen demonstrates how to integrate Firebase Crashlytics to catch and report app crashes in an Android app using Kotlin.

Target UI

-------------------------
| Crashlytics Demo      |
|-----------------------|
| [Crash App Button]    |
|                       |
| Tap the button to     |
| cause a crash and     |
| send a report to      |
| Firebase Crashlytics. |
-------------------------

Add Firebase Crashlytics dependency and initialize it.

Create a button labeled 'Crash App Button'.

When the button is tapped, force a crash by throwing a RuntimeException.

Ensure the crash is reported to Firebase Crashlytics.

Starter Code

Android Kotlin

package com.example.crashlyticsdemo

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.widget.Button

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        val crashButton: Button = findViewById(R.id.crashButton)
        // TODO: Set click listener to cause a crash
    }
}

Task 1

Solution

Android Kotlin

package com.example.crashlyticsdemo

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.widget.Button

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        val crashButton: Button = findViewById(R.id.crashButton)
        crashButton.setOnClickListener {
            throw RuntimeException("Test Crash") // Force a crash
        }
    }
}

This code sets a click listener on the button labeled 'Crash App Button'. When tapped, it throws a RuntimeException which crashes the app. Firebase Crashlytics automatically catches this crash and sends a report to your Firebase console. Make sure Firebase Crashlytics is properly added and initialized in your project for this to work.

Final Result

Completed Screen

-------------------------
| Crashlytics Demo      |
|-----------------------|
| [Crash App Button]    |
|                       |
| Tap the button to     |
| cause a crash and     |
| send a report to      |
| Firebase Crashlytics. |
-------------------------

User taps 'Crash App Button'.

App immediately crashes with RuntimeException.

Crashlytics captures the crash and sends report to Firebase.

Stretch Goal

Add a log message to Crashlytics before crashing to provide extra context.

💡 Hint

Use FirebaseCrashlytics.getInstance().log("Your message") before throwing the exception.